Monday, January 07, 2013

Eppa Rixey, Jr., one of the National league pitching sensations…has written to Manager Dooin requesting permission to refrain from reporting next season until June, dodging the training trip to Southern Pines, N.C.

Rixey explained that he is taking a course in chemistry at the University of Virginia, and wishes to finish his studies before reporting. He promises to keep in shape by work in the university gymnasium.

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News and notes:
* Magglio Ordonez (January 28) is 17 for his last 34, with three home runs and 14 RBI. He leads the league with 36 RBI.
* Tim Talton (January 14) leads the league with a .407 batting average.
* Otis Nixon (January 9) has 53 hits and 35 stolen bases in 40 games.
* George Selkirk (January 4) leads the league in slugging (.657), OBP (.455), and total bases (88).
* Chuck Dobson (January 10) leads the league with a 1.32 ERA.
* Mark Littell (January 17) leads the league in walks (34), wild pitches (6), and complete games (3). His pitch counts must be insane.

Eli Whiteside update: After being waived by the Giants, waived by the Yankees, and waived by the Blue Jays, he has been waived by the Rangers. But not claimed! Since he lives in Mississippi we believe he would prefer to spend the year with the Round Rock Express than Fresno, Buffalo or Moosic.

As part of a general clearout of catchers the Rangers also waived Luis Martinez who has been claimed by the Orioles.

The Red Sox still have 5 catchers on their 40-man roster, so expect Whiteside's value to plummet farther during spring as the market is glutted.

In related AAA news the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees are now the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. I find this name inexplicable and infuriating since passenger trains, to NYC or anywhere else, no longer exist in the area, and the stadium is nowhere near the Steamtown historic area.

The logo appears to be some sort of porcupine or possibly one of those thorny desert lizards. Yes, it's a porcupine, an interesting creature present locally in abundance, though rarely seen except as roadkill. If I had heard about the cool porcupine before hearing about the stupid team name I would be more enthusiastic. Also what do porcupines have to do with trains?

Anyway, Ryan was a .500 pitcher; there's no way he beats Morris in GPTTS.

You'd be surprised :) Ryan's run support during his career was generally terrible - every metric I have based on run support suggests that he should have had a losing record for his career. He was significantly better than Morris at converting his run support into wins (like about 30-40 games better).

You'd be surprised :) Ryan's run support during his career was generally terrible - every metric I have based on run support suggests that he should have had a losing record for his career. He was significantly better than Morris at converting his run support into wins (like about 30-40 games better).

I'm not especially surprised by this, but it wouldn't surprise me if it surprised a few other people.

Rixey explained that he is taking a course in chemistry at the University of Virginia, and wishes to finish his studies before reporting. He promises to keep in shape by work in the university gymnasium.

Wait, Rixey was taking a chemistry course and working out in the university gymnasium? I think we've found the long-awaited steroid user who's already in the Hall of Fame.